USA > Indiana > The Eighty-sixth regiment, Indiana volunteer infantry : a narrative of its services in the civil war of 1861-1865 > Part 22
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It was now the 25th of November, historic day. The Eighty-sixth was up betimes. Colonel Dick at no time allowed it to be napping when duty called for watchfulness. The orders of the previous day, to be ready to move at a moment's notice, were again published.
During the night of November 24, the enemy had with- drawn from Lookont Mountain and from Chattanooga valley, and on the morning of the 25th was massing his entire force on Missionary Ridge. During the night of the 24th Sher- man had succeeded in crossing all of his army over the river, had captured the Confederate outposts, and had secured a firm footing at the north end of Missionary Ridge near the rail- road tunnel. Early in the morning of the 25th, Sherman opened the battle and the sounds of the conflict were borne to the Army of the Cumberland as it lay awaiting its final orders to move. Throughout the hours of the forenoon the troops of the Fourth and Fourteenth corps listened to the din and roar of Sherman's army as the battle grew stronger and stronger from the addition of new troops to the contest. From where Thomas' troops lay the reinforcements that were being sent by General Bragg against Sherman could be seen as they hurried along the crest of Missionary Ridge to the assistance of their Confederate comrades. As the morn- ing wore on the impatience and anxiety of the Army of
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the Cumberland grew stronger and stronger. The Army of the Cumberland could not move, however, until Hooker conld bring his troops across the valley and his line could be joined with Thomas' right. The rebels when they moved from Lookout had destroyed the bridges across the creek, and these had to be rebuilt before Hooker could cross. This was done as speedily as possible, and by 3 o'clock of the 25th Hooker was in position. At this time Sherman was holding his position by stubborn fighting, but was unable to make any headway, as the enemy had massed too heavily against him, and the fighting at the north end of the Ridge was most in- tense. The brave Hardee, with Cleburne, Cheatham and Stevenson's divisions were on the right of the Confederate lines in front of Sherman, and wherever Hardee was, there was sure to be a vigorous defense or a fierce attack. Reso- lute of purpose, with splendid soldiers, he could be depended on to hold his ground to the last. But Sherman, with the gallant Fifteenth corps, was equal to the emergency, and was holding his ground and fighting stubbornly to hold his position. The battle on the Union left-the rebel right- grew hotter, fiercer, deadlier. The rattle of musketry was unceasing and frightful.
During all the forenoon and on into the afternoon the troops in front of the Army of the Cumberland had kept up an incessant and terrific fire. The enemy's skirmishers, almost equal to a line of battle in strength, had poured out a most frightful volume of musketry, while the batteries along the summit of Missionary Ridge kept up a vigorous cannon- ading. The casualties in this portion of the Union line were, however, not very great when considered with relation to the amount of firing that was done by the enemy.
General Howard, with the Eleventh corps, now came into line on the left of the Fourth corps, but moved off to the support of Sherman, and Baird's division of the Fourteenth corps moved in and took Howard's place. It did not, how- ever, remain long; it too moved off to the left to the support of Sherman, and the left of the Fourth corps was uncov- ered. The shifting of so many troops to the left showed
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that that point was Grant's objective, and that he desired to carry the north end of the Ridge before he made the attack upon the rebel left with Hooker's forces. All orders show that he desired Sherman to carry the Ridge as far south as the tunnel before the combined attack should be made.
Sherman's battle grew more severe as the afternoon drew on. By 12:45 p. m. it had grown so hot that Sherman dispatched Grant: "Where is Thomas?" Thomas himself replied from Orchard Knob at 1 o'clock p. m. "I am here; my right is closing in from Lookout Mountain toward Mis- sionary Ridge." Now, artillery, cavalry, and infantry could all be seen passing on the crest to support and assist Hardee and engage Sherman's forces. These heavy re-enforcements for Bragg's right indicated that he had divined Grant's plan of battle, of capturing the north end of the Ridge, and sweep- ing down its crest to the south with troops which were to be supported upon both flanks.
Sherman was meeting severer opposition than had been anticipated, and the time had now come for earnest work on the part of the Union right and center in order to relieve him and hold what had already been acquired. To do this it was necessary to throw forward the center and right so that Bragg would not be able to send forward any further re-en- forcements, and if possible force him to withdraw some of his troops from Sherman's front in order to protect his lines on Missionary Ridge. The Fourth corps was selected as the first to make "the demonstration on the enemy's works." By this demonstration it was intended that the Fourth corps should capture the enemy's picket or skirmish line and take and occupy Bragg's line of works at the foot of the Ridge. To that end the orders were issued to the division com- manders to move their troops outside their works, reform their lines, and that six guns from Orchard Knob fired in quick succession should be the signal for the attack. By this order it was not intended or expected to pass beyond the first line of the enemy's works, and they were at the foot of the Ridge.
The order was communicated to each of the brigade com-
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manders, and they at once put their commands in motion, crossed their works, reformed their lines, and awaited the signal from Orchard Knob. Each brigade was formed in two lines. The Third brigade of Wood's division, of which the Eighty-sixth Indiana was a part, was formed with the Seventy-ninth and Eighty-sixth Indiana in the first, or charging line, and the Thirteenth and Fifty-ninth Ohio, the Nineteenth Ohio and the Seventeenth Kentucky in the second line as supports. The Ninth Kentucky. held the skirmish line, but some distance to the left of the brigade front .*
While awaiting for the signal for the charge it may be well to look at the situation as it then confronted the front or charging line. The line of works at the foot of the Ridge was known to be very strong and most favorably situated for defense, as a sweeping fire of musketry could cover every foot of ground in its immediate front for several hundred yards. All along the foot of the Ridge there was open ground in which was left no shelter from the fire of the batteries on the Ridge, or from the fire of the infantry in the strong line of intrenchments at its foot. In fact, at the time the order was delivered it looked to be a fair chance for just such a slaughter of the Union troops as was afterwards made of the Confederates at Franklin. Hooker quotes Grant as saying he had nothing to do with the battle of Missionary Ridge, and it does seem, when the events are taken into consid- eration about to be related, as though he had little to do with the formation, shaping and working out of the crowning event of the day, his work simply being an act of "touching the button" and setting the machinery in motion. The troops worked out a victory in ways altogether different from that which he had expected.
* General Beatty in a letter written to the Cincinnati Commercial, February 4. 1876, says : " My brigade was formed as follows: Seventy-ninth and Eighty-sixth Indiana, on the right; Thirteenth and Fifty-ninth Ohio In the center, and the Ninth Kentucky on the left; the Nheteenth Ohio and the Seventeenth Kentucky in reserve. The Seventy-ninth and Eighty-sixth Indlana were the first regiments to gain the crest of the Ridge." Colonel Fred Knefler in a letter to the same paper March 20, 1876, says: "Beatty's brigade was formed as follows: The Ninth Kon- tucky held the skirmish line, but some distance to the left of the brigade front; the first line was composed of the Seventy-ninth and Elghty-sixth Indiana: the second line, of the Nineteenth Ohlo and the Seventeenth Kentucky; the third line, of the Thirteenth Ohio and Fifty-ninth Ohio."
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Finally at 3:40 p. m. everything was believed to be prop- erly arranged and in order, every emergency likely to arise carefully provided for. But it is the unexpected that hap- pens in battle as elsewhere. All things being in readiness and expectation standing as tip-toe, boom! boom! boom! went the great guns from the crest of Orchard Knob, and roared and thundered out the signal that all might hear. From where stood the ranks of the Eighty-sixth could be plainly seen the flame and smoke shoot from the mouths of the guns as if they would blow with their mighty breaths of flame the enemy from the Ridge. "One!" spoke an iron throat of Bridges' battery, and with the sound each man grasped his gun with a firm grasp, and stood with contracted muscles and compressed lips. "Two!" "Three!" "Four!" "Five!" "Six!" Hardly had the last gun sent its messenger of death as a herald of the attack when the troops-Wil- lich's-on Orchard Knob leaped up, out and over their works, and started for the enemy. They had not yet cleared their parapet when in trumpet tones Colonels Kneffer and Dick gave the command, "Forward, march!" and the men of the two regiments, the Eighty-sixth and Seventy-ninth Indiana, at the same instant sprang forward with a cheer on that charge that ended in the most brilliant victory in the annals of war. And now the battle for the Army of the Cumber- land was again begun. Now was the time for action-heroic action. Once fairly in motion the tremor of the muscles was over-was a thing of the past.
The Eighty-sixth and Seventy-ninth Indiana had a nar- row strip of open woods through which to pass before coming to the opening in the immediate front of the enemy's works at the foot of the Ridge. Through this strip of standing tim- ber the men pressed forward in as good line as was possible. However, as they drew near the farther side of this woods, which was rather more open, the men formed into a better line, and so the two regiments came ont into the open ground in a fairly good line of battle. As they cleared this timber they came into a full and perfect view of the enemy's works at the foot of the Ridge, as well as those on its crest, and
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about eight or nine hundred yards distant from the former, the objective point of the attack. The sight of the enemy in his intrenchments seemed to act as an electrifier. The yell was given over and over again as away went the two regi- ments on the full run for the enemy, determined to have that line of works at all hazards. Whether either Colonel Knefler or Colonel Dick gave the order to "double-quick," or "charge bayonet," on clearing the woods, no one can say, but it is presumed they did. At any rate the general shout of the line was sufficient to set every man going at his very best pace. As the Union line cleared the standing timber and came out into the open ground the long line of Confed- erate batteries on the crest of the Ridge opened a terrific fire. There were Dent's, Cobb's, Mebane's, and Slocomb's batteries, and others, vomiting death and destruction upon the valley. The boom of the many guns, the shriek of flying shells, the roar of their explosions, the whir of the flying fragments were positively appalling. The Union batteries on Orchard Knob, Fort Wood, and other points added their volcanic roar to the unearthly noise of the rebel batteries.
The men who cast their eyes to the front, and then to the right, and then up the valley along the Union line and over the ground where it was advancing, could see in front a bat- tery worked with fiery energy, and on the crest to the right a long line of rebel batteries with drifting clouds of sulphur- ous smoke above them. Here, there, everywhere the burst- ings shells and the smoke drifting lazily off could be seen. Some few burst on the ground, others five, ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, and some few perhaps a hundred feet or more in the air above. Some burst far in front, others overhead far to the rear toward the reserve. It was truly a grand and mag- nificent sight. It was a scene to be witnessed but once in a life- time, and no one cares to look upon its like again under sim- ilar circumstances. There in front rose the great Ridge as a natural barrier, and on its crest the long row of rebel guns. Here below a long thin line of Union "blue-coats, " a line of battle to be swallowed up, as it seemed, in the volcanic erup- tion, rushing grandly and heroically on in the very face of
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death, and above the heads of those heroic men the curling smoke from hundreds of exploding shells, which they appar- ently did not notice more than the drifting down of thistles blown by idle winds of autumn. All this was grand and heroic, but this was not the battle. The two regiments passed resolutely and fearlessly forward-on toward the goal. All along the valley to the right, following the lead of these two superb regiments, the blue line swept steadily and grandly on, no faltering, no hesitation, but ever forward.
Colonel Knefler, in his account of the assault, says "at proper distance the line was halted an instant, firing a thundering volley, and, upon command to charge, rushed forward, defying the hostile fire." That line halted! When, where, by whom? Not a halt was made, not a check to its progress occurred, not a gun was fired by the charging col- umn of Beatty's brigade until after the capture of the first line of works at the foot of the Ridge. The two regiments forming the front of this brigade went true to their orders direct for the main line at the foot of the Ridge without halt or hesitation. But a glance at this rapidly shifting pano- rama of a great and real battle scene was all that one in that rushing battle line had time to take, and hurried on to the capture of the first line of works at the foot of the Ridge, the objective point of the assault. The Eighty-sixth and Seven- ty-ninth rushed forward through the fire and shot, and onto and over this line of intrenchments. So strong was this rush upon the enemy that he became panic stricken and abandoned them, and all who escaped capture fled pre- cipitately up the rugged mountain side. The Union cheers of victory and exultation added to his fright and hastened his flight, as he hurried rapidly toward the works on the crest of the Ridge. The men of the Union line arrived at these works almost exhausted in the effort made to reach the line in as short time as possible. Those who reached this line first, most of them, made a brief halt until some others began to arrive, for it must be understood where a line of men start out on a run some will be left, and consequently the line will become more or less disordered at
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the finish in an advance of eight hundred or nine hundred yards at the highest rate of speed that each was capable of attaining.
By this time the rebel gunners, and they were vet- erans, had recovered from the frenzy of their first excite- ment caused by the sudden discovery of the audacious move- ment against their first line of intrenchments directly beneath them. The tremor of their muscles had given place to steely steadiness and they settled down to soldierly work, as their fire now clearly proved. They were carefully de- pressing their guns with perfect range and were accurately delivering with terrific effect a plunging fire of shot and shell which no troops on earth could face and remain quiet and inactive in line. It was but as the twinkling of an eye until the victors at this line of works saw and realized the situation. Even before half their comrades reached the works the leaders of the line saw that no safe lodgment for a line of battle could be made here. No thought of retreat was entertained. It was not so ordered. Every fiery blast of the batteries on the Ridge made their old line of intrenchments at its foot quake and tremble. The command, "Forward!" "Forward!" was given and repeated. The command was received by the two regiments with a shout as if victory was already won. Granger's message, "Take the Ridge if you can!" passed along the bleeding line, but it was already advancing. Then began the real battle of Chattanooga, the storming and capture of the heights of Missionary Ridge! At once the privates and officers of the Eighty-sixth and Seventy-ninth Indiana, inaugurated a movement that was to result in a grander victory than Grant had ever dreamed of even in his brightest dream of victories. The Army of the Cumberland was to show here its magnificent fighting qualities. Even now its advance, the Eighty-sixth and Seventy-ninth Indiana, were ahead of Grant's orders and expectations. In fact neither Generals Grant nor Thomas intended it.
From this point and upward the two regiments, like mountain goats, were advancing up the rugged face of a ridge
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.
four hundred feet high, exposed to a volcanic fire of the enemy intrenched on its summit. In the movement up the Ridge the gallant Colonels Knefler and Dick, quick to see its supreme importance, gave it the impetus of their com- mands and example and encouraged the brave men every step of the way up the steep acclivity. Instead of a mere "diversion " in favor of Sherman it was to be the culminat- ing and deciding event of this great three days' battle. Wood's division of the Fourth corps opened the battle on the 23d, and now the victorious assault of Wood's and Sheridan's divisions of that corps, with two divisions of the Fourteenth corps- the Army of the Cumberland still-decided the battle in a marvelously wonderful manner greatly to the sur- prise of General Grant.
This was truly the hurly burly of battle when "fearful scouring doth choke the air with dust and laden it with death." Onward, and yet onward, and upward, and yet higher, pressed that charging line, through the enemy's pitiless fire. The two regiments pressed undauntedly up the ridge. There was no halting, only to breathe and rest, for the climbing was extremely fatiguing. Only the hardiest could proceed steadily on even at a slow pace without halt- ing to rest. As the two regiments advanced the enemy's fire grew hotter, fiercer, deadlier. Shot, shell, shrapnel, and as the disordered line drew nearer the crest, grape and canis- ter were poured into the ranks of those faithful men at an appalling rate. Beatty's brigade, of which these regiments formed the front line, had struck the Ridge at a place where there was a more prominent elevation-Signal Hill-and from where a point projected to the west from the general line of the Ridge. This conformation of the Ridge at the place of ascent of the Eighty-sixth Indiana gave the enemy's artillery to the right and left, as well as the battery on the elevation itself, a better sweep to the approaches to the heights, and a cross-fire upon the assaulting forces now com- ing up, which opportunity they did not fail to improve. As the two regiments were so far in advance of the lines on the right and left they invited the fire of the whole of the enemy's
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line within striking distance. But as this line climbed the Ridge, the infantry on the crest opened a hot and malicious fire of musketry upon the two Indiana regiments. Now the deadly zip, zip. zip, of the minnie balls added their minor but more fearful strain to the heavier notes of the batteries, and the latter apparently redoubled their fierce activity. The men of the Eighty-sixth and Seventy-ninth were now almost exhausted, and were creeping slowly up the Ridge turning to practical account trees, logs, stumps, and roeks as cover, returned the fire in a most valorous and effective manner, constantly encouraged in the advance by the officers of both regiments. Many were killed on both sides. As the two regiments approached nearer the enemy's works the battle grew if possible, fiercer. The mettle of both armies were here to be thoroughly tested. The enemy wasstubborn, and tenaciously held his ground-clinging to his works, rallied by officers of high rank who exhorted the men to stand firm and hold their position.
As the assaulting line still erept nearer and nearer the works on the crest, occasionally the "swish" of a ram-rod, fired by some of the more excitable, added another variation to the already tumultuous roar of battle-to the shriek of shot and shell, the rattle of grape and canister and the zip of the minnie ball on the rough and stony mountain side. The two regiments had kept well together as one regiment, and were far in advance of the rest of the line. They were now full nine-tenths of the way up the Ridge on the breast of Signal Hill and laid down there, waited and rested. To push on at this stage appeared suicidal for this mere handful of men, if they had not already got themselves into a veritable death-trap.
The men were out of breath and almost completely ex- hausted. Only the strongest had been able to keep pace with the colors of the two regiments up the mountain. Some in- deed were in advance of the standards, for it was endurance that was required to keep to the front, and in a run of nine hundred yards at top speed, and then climbing a mountain slope four or five hundred yards at an angle of forty-tive de-
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grees accoutered as an infantry soldier, only the hardiest, sound in limb, heart and lungs can endure to the end. It was no child's play to climb the mountain, but to climb it after a long charge and in the face of a courageous.enemy was heroic.
It has already been said that these two regiments, rank, file and field, were responsible for the attack made upon the Ridge itself, and were far in advance of all other regiments on the mountain side. This is a fact which cannot be suc- cessfully called in question. General Sheridan in his report of what he saw when at the first line of works captured at the foot of the Ridge, says: "Looking to the left I saw a single regiment far over in Wood's line dash up the hill and lay down below the crest. General Hazen's men also com- menced the ascent." Now that which General Sheridan calls one regiment was really two regiments, the Eighty- sixth and Seventy-ninth Indiana consolidated as a single regiment, and as his words indicate, we're far ahead of all other troops in the assault upon the intrenchments on the crest of the Ridge. These regiments were but a handful of men to meet the strong line of Bragg's men behind their in- trenchments, but nevertheless they held their ground, clung to the brow of Signal Hill, and with their flags flying deti- antly in the breeze. Notwithstanding they were few in numbers yet the enemy did not dare to come out of his in- trenchments and attack. The lines at the foot of the Ridge had looked with wonder and surprise at the two regiments toiling toward the summit, until finally they together with their supports were ordered forward to join that small assaulting column which is now immediately under the guns of the enemy almost at the very summit of the Ridge. But all things must have an end, and now the line of regiments completing the division's battle line have almost joined these two regiments that have so gallantly led the van. Looking to the right and down the slope of the Ridge could be seen the long line, scattered somewhat and broken in places by the enemy's fire, pushing and fighting its way up the Ridge,
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their regimental standards and the stars and stripes held aloft and floating in the breeze-
" The flags of war like storm birds fly, The charging trumpets blow."
As this line of brave "blue-coats, " undaunted, unap- palled by what they have witnessed, approached the brow of the Ridge the battle roar increased, and fighting was in- tensely furious and desperate along the entire line. This was the Battle of Chattanooga-the Assault of Missionary Ridge!
But as the whole battle front of the division approached the brow of the Ridge, followed by the supports, Colonels Dick and Knefler gathered their men for another desperate attack, determined to win the victory which they had striven so hard to gain and gave the command, "Fix-bayonets!" They were soon ready and when the order, "Charge-bay- onets!" was given, the brave men of these two regiments went forward with a rush. Oh! It was a thrilling sight! Shot and shell were doing their murderous work. Nothing short of annihilation could stop those noble battalions. Higher, and still higher, they crept, until at last, just as the sun was sinking in the west, they reached the summit, and then as the gathered billow thunders and foams along and over the sunken ledges of the sea, they, with one wild shout and burst, swept over those deadly batteries. The Confeder- ates saw and heard the preparation of the two regiments for the final dash and when it came they stood their ground, fighting desperately and hand to hand, but the assault was too grandly ferocious, and they broke and fled down the opposite declivity of the mountain, utterly dismayed and panic stricken. As these two regiments swept over the works and on, they were followed closely by the battle line of Willich's brigade, and those fighting to the right and left soon had Signal Hill and the Ridge for some distant to the right of it, cleared. Thus was a foot-hold on the mountain gained. Thus was the Ridge and battle won as never battle before was won. The next moment cheer after cheer went up all along the smoking crest, and rolled down the crimson steep, till to the right and left and far be-
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